ComEd had restored power to more than 300,000 customers after Wednesday’s storms, but they have more work to do after another massive severe weather outbreak Thursday.
As of 9 p.m., more than 195,000 customers were without power across the Chicago area, with the bulk of those customers located within Cook County.
According to the utility, more than 160,000 customers in the county were without power, while another 11,000 were without power in Will County.
The utility had reported more than 400,000 outages on Wednesday after wind gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour ripped through the region. They had restored power to more than 350,000 of those customers, but approximately 101,000 had remained without power as Thursday’s severe weather outbreak unfolded.
Now, the utility will be forced to undertake more cleanup efforts, though weather should hopefully improve in coming days to allow those repairs to take place.
Elsewhere in the Chicago area, dangerous straight-line winds caused power outages during Thursday’s storms, and numerous tornadoes were reported both in Illinois and northwest Indiana, with damage assessments to come from the National Weather Service.
Friday should bring cooler temperatures to the region, with highs in the upper-70s and low-80s expected, according to forecast models.
